Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Harlow
Leon is tense as we shower, and it has me on edge. I climb out as Leon finishes washing the shampoo from his hair.
“Wait, don’t leave without me,” Leon says, frantically scrubbing at his scalp as I wrap a towel around myself.
My face scrunches up, wondering what has gotten into him. He’s barely said anything to me since Thane and Raidon left. Hearing the doorbell, I glance at the bathroom door.
“Harlow!” Leon snaps at me, but I ignore him, retrieving one of Raidon’s shirts and slipping it on.
“I’m just answering the door,” I huff before moving into the bedroom. The moment I step into the hall, I hear the front door get kicked down, making me jump.
A scream of fright leaves my lips, only to be muffled by Leon’s hand. My breathing is harsh as he sniffs the air. I hear the housekeeper downstairs, demanding to know who they are.
“We are here for the Omega,” comes a gruff voice.
My eyes widen at the demand. Leon holds a finger to his lips and lets me go before ushering me to the back stairwell.
'Thane, get back here!' Leon snarls through the link. I’m cursing myself for not marking them earlier. I can hear them, but with an incomplete bond, I can’t reply.
Leon grabs my arm, quickly leading me down the back stairs and into the library.
He glances at the door that leads to the kitchen, where we can hear the housekeeper arguing with them to leave.
We hear a sickening slap, followed by her whimper.
Leon growls. His eyes burn bright red as he leads me to the huge glass window. Footsteps above us tell me a few of them went upstairs. From the different scents, I can smell at least seven people, three of which I can tell are Alphas.
I hear another car pull up out front as Leon quietly slides the window open before grabbing my hips and lifting me through the window.
“What are you doing?” I hiss at him.
“Head for the sheds at the back of the property. I will come find you. Stay out of sight.”
“Wait.”
“Can’t, love. Now run,” Leon says, not giving me a chance to protest before he drops me to my feet and quickly closes the window.
I duck down, scanning my surroundings and spotting the huge sheds by the edge of the tree line, where the gardener keeps his tools. With one last glance at the huge mansion, I start across the lawn, using the hedges for cover and keeping as low as possible.
I hear a commotion inside before a man is tossed from the second-floor window.
The glass shatters, and I freeze, watching him hit the roof of the first story, only to roll off and hit the concrete below.
I duck down, watching as he tries to get up.
He clutches his neck, which is spurting blood everywhere.
My eyes move to the window above to see Leon fighting another man.
Ducking back down, I run. As I reach one of the sheds, I push the door open enough to slip inside. Looking through the gap, I see the housekeeper being dragged outside, and a tall man with dirty blond hair, clearly an Alpha, lifts his gun and shoots her in the head.
I gasp as she collapses to the ground. My hands cover my mouth at what I see. What the hell is going on? Only a few tense seconds later, I watch as Leon is dragged from the house and tossed beside the dead housekeeper, whose name I feel bad for not remembering.
Leon is drenched in blood, covered as if he bathed in it. The two men that tossed him to the ground are also bloody. One man’s arm is bent at an odd angle, and I watch him shove it back into place. Looking out, I see seven Alphas and two other men in uniform, who look to be officials.
I recognize the man with the gun as one of the Alphas from the glory hole event at Tal’s. I swear I have seen the other man before, yet I don’t place him until he speaks.
“Where is she?” he yells, kicking Leon in the face.
My blood runs cold, and I am suddenly frozen to the spot, trapped in a memory I don’t want.
A memory I worked so hard to forget. The memory slams into me by the mere sound of his voice and throws me back in time.
Everything I suppressed starts assaulting my mind.
* * *
***THE DAY OF THE ATTACK***
We’re in Mrs. Keller’s car, which is upside down and in a ravine after they ran us off the road. Mrs. Keller is slumped and dangling from her seat. I hear men shouting in the distance.
“Down here! Quick, grab the bitch and let's go!"
I blink, and blood from the gash on my head taints my vision. I shake Mrs. Keller awake. She groans, peering around. The voices get closer. She turns, and I will never forget the look she gives me. One of pure terror, and she screams at me.
"Run! Run, Harlow. They are coming for you," she screams, and I run.
I am at the edge of the tree line when I stop, expecting her to be right behind me.
However, as I peer between the bushes, I see men running down the ravine as she tries to crawl out her door.
She has a huge piece of metal stabbing through her stomach.
The men grab her, hauling her out of the car. My entire body is frozen as I watch the horror unfold before me. I’m paralyzed by fear, and I tremble, peering out between the bushes.
She is thrown to the ground on her hands and knees. The man grabs her hair, jerking her head back. She spits in his face, and he wipes it off. “Where is she?” he asks.
“Go fuck yourself, you pin-dick prick,” she responds, only for him to slap her across the face. Blood sprays over the grass, and tears brim in my eyes. Mrs. Keller laughs, however, and wipes her mouth before glaring at him.
“You always were a pathetic excuse for an Alpha,” she sneers at him.
“You were supposed to be mine!” he growls at her.
“I was never yours, and neither was Harper!” she screams at him.
“You had Sophia take the first twin from me. You aren’t getting this one. Black fucked up, and he’ll pay for that mistake, but in the meantime, you’ll pay for ever daring to cross me.”
He grabs her face, kissing her, but she growls, biting down on his tongue. He grabs the steel protruding from her stomach and twists, making her scream and let go.
“When I find her, and I will, I’ll make sure there is nothing left of her for Thane. You took Harper from us. Now we take Thane’s Omega from you,” he growls at her.
“You’re a dead man,” she spits at him, blood dribbling down her lips and chin.
“He’ll never know,” the man laughs, and two men haul her to her feet. He pulls a knife from his back pocket and drags the tip down her face. She doesn't flinch, just glares at him.
“My son will come for you. He’ll come for her, and you better pray to the Moon Goddess he has mercy on you!”
The man laughs, tapping the knife on her cheek.
“Find her. She can’t have got far!” he snaps at the other four men with him. They start taking their clothes off and begin shifting.
“All this time and you’re still trying to catch a ghost,” she laughs.
He growls before slitting her throat.
That’s what finally gets me moving. I do what she told me, and I run.
* * *
I hid in that forest for days, covering my body in mud to hide my scent as I waited them out. Now, looking out the shed doors, I see the man that killed Hana. The man who hunted me. His voice triggered a memory my mind had blocked out.
The blond man with the gun must be Alpha Corbin. I can tell who he is by the sheer size of him, and his aura is menacing, like Thane’s. He lifts his gun, pressing it to Leon’s temple before he looks up at the house.